Monday, 7 March 2016

Blog Tour Review: Crush - Eve Ainsworth

Love hurts ... but
should it hurt this much? Reeling from her mum's sudden departure, Anna
finds the comfort she needs in her blossoming relationship with Will.
He's handsome and loving, everything Anna has always dreamt of. He's
also moody and unpredictable, pushing her away from her friends, her
music. He wants her to be his and his alone. He wants her to be perfect.
Anna's world is closing in. But threatening everything is a dark secret
that not even Will can control...

Eve Ainsworth's gripping second novel
is a pitch-perfect exploration of love at its most powerful, addictive
and destructive.

I'm the first to admit that YA contemporary is not a genre I read regularly but having loved Eve Ainsworth's debut 7 Days last year I was looking forward to reading Crush, especially after discovering what the book was about. I'm not going to go into detail but I know firsthand what a toxic relationship can do to you and like Anna, you don't realize that what you think is love actually isn't, until it's too late. Coming from a broken home, Anna is desperate for attention. Dismissed by her dad and left to care for her younger brother Anna is over the moon when school hunk Will starts showing an interest in here. With not many friends apart from Izzy and the boys in the band she belongs to, Anna latches on to Will and is soon head over heels in love with him.She becomes one of those girls, the ones who push everyone away and starts sneaking out, often leaving her younger brother alone. Desperate to please Will she ignores the warning signs that maybe everything isn't as it should be. At fourteen though, what does Anna really know about love?Crush doesn't shy away from the reality of a toxic relationship, confronting head on what is actually a growing problem but still one that many people (and especially teens) don't or won't talk about. It doesn't sensationalize the problem but rather shows how gradually you get involved in a relationship that on the outside may seem perfect but in reality is doing you harm, both physically and mentally. Eve Ainsworth has written an intense but truthful picture of first love, and the pitfalls that come with it if one person in the relationship has too much power over the other. This should be required reading for every teen and I know several that I'll be buying copies of Crush for.

Eve Ainsworth has worked extensively in Child Protection and pastoral care roles, supporting teenagers with emotional and behavioral issues. Her debut novel Seven Days was released in 2015 and has been nominated for a string of awards including the Carnegie Medal. Her second novel, Crush, is out March 2016. She lives in West Sussex.